Recombinant cytomegalovirus vectors as vaccines for tuberculosis

1. A recombinant rhesus cytomegalovirus (RhCMV) or human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) vector comprising a nucleic acid sequence encoding an expressible Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) antigen, wherein said Mtb antigen is a fusion protein, wherein said fusion protein is selected from the following two fusion proteins which comprise the following Mtb proteins or antigenic fragments thereof in the order listed: Rv1733-Rv2626c and Ag85A-ESAT6-Rv3407-Rv2626c-RpfA-RpfD.

2. The recombinant RhCMV or HCMV vaccine vector of claim 1 , wherein expression of the Mtb antigen is driven by an antigen-coding sequence in operable association with a promoter selected from the group consisting of a constitutive CMV promoter, an immediate early CMV promoter, an early CMV promoter, and a late CMV promoter.

3. The recombinant RhCMV or HCMV vaccine vector of claim 2 , wherein the promoter is selected from the group consisting of EF1-alpha, UL82, MIE, pp65, and gH.

4. The recombinant RhCMV or HCMV vaccine vector of claim 1 , comprising a deletion or modification of US2, US3, US4, US5, US6, US11, or UL97, or a homolog thereof.

5. The recombinant RhCMV or HCMV vaccine vector of claim 1 , comprising a deletion of Rh158-166 or a homolog thereof.

6. The recombinant RhCMV or HCMV vaccine vector of claim 1 , wherein the RhCMV or HCMV vaccine vector is a tropism-restricted vector.

7. The recombinant RhCMV or HCMV vaccine vector of claim 6 , wherein the tropism-restrictive vector lacks genes required for optimal growth in certain cell types or contains targets for tissue-specific micro-RNAs in genes essential for viral replication or wherein the tropism-restrictive vector has an epithelial, central nervous system (CNS), or macrophage deficient tropism, or a combination thereof.

8. The recombinant RhCMV or HCMV vaccine vector of claim 1 , wherein the RhCMV or HCMV vaccine vector has a deletion in a gene non-essential for growth in vivo.

9. The recombinant RhCMV or HCMV vaccine vector of claim 8 , wherein the gene is selected from the group consisting of the RL11 family, the pp65 family, the US12 family, and the US28 family.

10. The recombinant RhCMV vaccine vector of claim 9 , wherein the RhCMV gene is selected from the group consisting of Rh13-Rh29, Rh111-Rh112, Rh191-Rh202, and Rh214-Rh220, or wherein the RhCMV gene is selected from the group consisting of Rh13.1, Rh19, Rh20, Rh23, Rh24, Rh112, Rh190, Rh192, Rh196, Rh198, Rh199, Rh200, Rh201, Rh202, and Rh220.

11. The recombinant HCMV vaccine vector of claim 9 , wherein the HCMV gene region is selected from the group consisting of RL11, UL6, UL7, UL9, UL11, UL83 (pp65), US12, US13, US14, US17, US18, US19, US20, US21, and UL28.

12. The recombinant RhCMV or HCMV vaccine vector of claim 1 , wherein the vector comprises a deletion in a RhCMV or HCMV gene that is essential for replication within a host, dissemination within a host, or spreading from host to host.

13. The recombinant RhCMV or HCMV vaccine vector of claim 12 , wherein the essential gene is UL94, UL32, UL99, UL115, or UL44, or a homolog thereof.

14. The recombinant RhCMV or HCMV vaccine vector of claim 1 , wherein the vector comprises a deletion in gene UL82 or a homolog thereof.

15. The recombinant RhCMV or HCMV vaccine vector of claim 1 , wherein the vector comprises a nucleic acid sequence encoding US2, US3, or US6, or a homolog thereof, wherein the vector does not encode a functional US11.

16. The recombinant RhCMV or HCMV vaccine vector of claim 15 , wherein the nucleic acid sequence encodes US2, US3, and US6.

17. The recombinant RhCMV or HCMV vaccine vector of claim 15 , wherein the nucleic acid encoding a US11 open reading frame is deleted.

18. The recombinant RhCMV or HCMV vaccine vector of claim 15 , wherein the vector comprises a nucleic acid sequence encoding US11, and wherein the nucleic acid sequence encoding US11 comprises a point mutation, a frameshift mutation, and/or a deletion of one or more nucleotides of the nucleic acid sequence encoding US11.

19. The recombinant RhCMV or HCMV vaccine vector of claim 18 , wherein the vector lacks the tegument protein pp65.

20. The recombinant RhCMV or HCMV vaccine vector of claim 1 , wherein the vector does not express an active UL130 protein.

21. The recombinant RhCMV or HCMV vaccine vector of claim 1 , wherein the RhCMV vaccine vector is Rh68-1 or Rh68-1.2.

22. The recombinant RhCMV or HCMV vaccine vector of claim 1 further comprising a microRNA recognition element (MRE) operably linked to a CMV gene that is essential or augmenting for CMV growth, and wherein the MRE silences expression in the presence of a microRNA that is expressed by a cell of myeloid lineage.

23. A pharmaceutical composition comprising the recombinant RhCMV or HCMV vaccine vector of claim 1 , and a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier.

24. A method for treatment or prevention of tuberculosis or eliciting an immune response to a Mtb antigen comprising administering to a subject in need thereof at least one recombinant RhCMV or HCMV vaccine vector of claim 1 .

25. The method of claim 24 , wherein the recombinant RhCMV or HCMV vaccine vector is administered to the subject intravenously, intramuscularly, intraperitoneally, intranasally, orally, or as an aerosol.

26. A Mtb antigen, wherein said Mtb antigen is a fusion protein, wherein said fusion protein comprises the following Mtb proteins or antigenic fragments thereof in the order listed: Ag85A-ESAT6-Rv3407-Rv2626c-RpfA-RpfD.

27. The human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) vector of claim 1 , comprising a nucleic acid sequence encoding an expressible Mtb antigen, wherein said nucleic acid sequence encodes the Mtb antigen Ag85A-ESAT6-Rv3407-Rv2626c-RpfA-RpfD.

28. The RhCMV or HCMV vector of claim 1 , wherein said nucleic acid sequence encoding an Mtb antigen is a bacterial codon optimized sequence or a mammalian codon optimized sequence.